The Manipuri Pony (; literally, "Meitei horse" or "Meitei pony") is a traditional Indian breed of small horse or pony from Assam and Manipur in north-eastern India. It appears both in the history and the mythology of Manipur, and was used for warfare and polo. It is believed to have been the polo pony in use in Assam in the mid-nineteenth century when British tea planters first saw polo being played, and the height limits set for polo ponies were based on ponies of this breed. It was very numerous in the early twentieth century, but numbers have since fallen. A breed society was established in 1977, and a breed standard was drawn up by the Indigenous Horse Society of India in 2009. History Small horses have been bred for centuries in the Manipuri area of north-eastern India. They were often used as warhorses, and were ridden by the Meitei warriors of Kangleipak (later called Manipur). Horses from Manipur were used by the cavalry of Ningthou Gharib Nawaz () in his wars against the Konbaung dynasty of Burma. When the game of polo was first observed by British tea planters in Assam, these are believed to have been the polo ponies that were being used. Some unsuccessful attempts were made to cross-breed the Manipuri polo ponies with Arab stock. The height of polo ponies was based on the average height of the Manipuri, and was at first restricted to , later relaxed to ; in 1916 the restriction was completely removed. At about this time the export of ponies from Manipur was banned in order to allow breed numbers to recover. Manipuri horses were used to transport British troops into Burma during the Second World War. In 1977 a breed society, the Manipur Horse Riding and Polo Association (MHRPA), was established. In recent years, breed numbers have decreased, and estimates place the breed at somewhere between 2300 and 1000 in population in the 21st century. Population numbers continue to dwindle in part due to high numbers of ponies being smuggled into Myanmar (Burma), where the breed is in demand, after either having been purchased or stolen from their Indian owners. In 2005, a heritage park was opened by the Manipur Horse Riding and Polo Association with the goal of preventing the extinction of the breed and promoting them to tourists. Characteristics The Manipuri Pony has a light head with a